At its June 12 meeting, the Magdalena Village Board of Trustees formalized the hiring, or re-hiring, of Yvonne Magener as Library Director. This will be Magener’s second stint at running Magdalena’s library, and last week accepted the offer to fill the position made open by the departure of Ivy Stover.

Magener, a longtime resident of the village and well-known local artist, had previously served as librarian for the Alamo Navajo reservation.

The renovated interior of Magdalena’s Senior Center.
Photo courtesy Richard Rumpf

Elsewhere, Mayor Richard Rumpf said work continues on sprucing up the village’s Senior Center.

“Monica Moore was hired as our new site director as well as her assistant Jeanette Wilson,” he said.

A soft opening is scheduled for Friday, June 20, and he encouraged all residents to drop by to meet new staff.

“There will be a questionnaire to fill out with likes and dislikes for the food menu and suggestions for field trips,” Rumpf said.

He said people are also welcome to sign up as volunteers.

“We’re going to make it fun,” he said of the re-opened Senior Center. “We have ideas for field trips, hopefully to the swimming pool in Socorro, Bosque del Apache, and movie day at the Loma. We want to start bingo, too.

“The kitchen is ready to go, and we will be cooking on-site again,” Rumpf said. “All meals will be meeting or exceeding the nutritional requirements set by the state and federal government. I don’t want anybody going home hungry.”

He said delivery for the homebound will continue. Currently, the center serves eight homebound seniors.

“We’ve spent the last few weeks sprucing things up. It hadn’t been painted in a long time, so we put new paint on the walls. A kind of adobe color to replace that old mustard color,” Rumpf said. “New curtains have been installed, and the floor has been stripped and waxed.”

He said the first thing regulars will notice is the furniture.

“We had nice tables donated to us to replace the long cheap-looking plastic tables,” he said. “People didn’t like them. Some people don’t want to sit and eat with six or eight others at the same table. So, this is a more inviting seating arrangement. Four-person or two-person tables.”

Rumpf said one new element for the center is the addition of a sewing machine for seniors’ use. “Our plan is actually to have a little sewing center.”

He said the center would need help to get back up and running and that any monetary donations would be accepted at Village Hall.

Any money donated will go directly to the food budget,” Rumpf said. “Volunteers can also sign up at Village Hall.”

In other business:

Village attorney for the last 12 years, Katherine Stout, announced her departure. In a letter to the Trustees, Stout said she would be starting a position with the state government in August. The Board approved a motion to begin advertising for a new attorney.

The Board approved Resolution 2023-10, informing the Socorro County Clerk of three municipal positions up for election on Nov. 7. The positions to be decided are two Trustees and Municipal Judge.

John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain